The politics of Sport

Sport is big businesses in Australia and politicians are happily throwing hundreds of millions of dollars a year at sporting institutions while limiting spending on health and education. First into the money pot We have the $250 million a year Australian Sports Commission closely followed by the Australian Institute of Sport which offers over 700 scholarships a year for individual training. Then there are various affiliated State Sports institutes or academies, plus the Australian Institute of Winter Sports with an annual budget over $1 million. At the end of all this training, highly paid athletes are produced – some pocketing several million dollars a year without any obligation to repay their training costs.some skip off overseas to live in tax havens like Bermuda. Why are they not treated in the same way as students leaving Universities with huge Hecs debts? If doctors, nurses,lawyers and teachers have to repay the cost of their training why don't athletes? Politicians need to wake up!